Tuesday, December 11, 2007 RP pins hopes on divers By Charles Raymond A. Maxey
WITH it's campaign going sour in the 24th Thailand Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, Team Philippines is now pinning its hopes to divers in attempt to climb up the standings in the medal tally.
The RP diving team, bannered mostly of athletes from Davao City, plunge into action starting Wednesday with Sheila Mae Perez gunning for another excellent performance in the biennial conclave just like two years ago when she bagged three gold medals in the 2005 Manila SEA Games.
Perez, the 21-year-old charming lass from Tibungco, opens defense of her 3-meter springboard title first with the preliminaries scheduled in the morning of December 12 at the His Majesty The King's 80th Anniversary Swimming Pool.
Perez also won the 3-meter synchronized springboard in a tandem with Ceseil Domenios and the 1-meter individual springboard in Manila two years ago, her finest performance in the regional meet.
Aside from Perez, other Davao divers seeing action in Thailand are fellow 2005 SEA Games gold medal winners Zardo Domenios, Niño Carog, Jaime Asok and Rexel Ryan Fabriga.
Domenios paired with Carog in winning the gold in the men's 3-meter synchronized springboard two years ago, while Fabriga also won a gold with Kelvin Kong in the men's 10-meter platform.
Asok won a gold medal in the dragon boat in a tandem with fellow Davao player Ramil Domenios, but will compete in diving this time around.
As of Monday noon, the Philippines remains in fourth place of the medal standings with 17 golds, 25 silvers and 44 bronzes.
Host Thailand is way ahead with 66 golds, 58 silvers and 42 bronze medals. Vietnam is in second spot with 30 golds, 16 silvers and 40 bronzes.
Singapore is even faring better than the Filipino athletes as it occupies third place with its 26-20-14 gold-silver-bronze haul thus far.
